Repent, the End is Near!

Taking literary theory alongside a literature course (American Voices) has enabled me to use much of what I learned in AV as a backdrop to my theoretical studies. Being able to realize that Sarah Margaret Fuller participated in the first wave of feminism and her writing reflects the implications of that time period of the movement changed the way I read the piece- feminist rather than transcendental. Being able to compare early feminist writings to more contemporary ones really helped me understand the theory, too. And, what would my semester have been without the torture and subsequent triumph of tackling only a small piece of Foucault? Learning that "author's intention" means nothing- and that if Mark Twain was a racist, it doesn't mean that his author function was too.

I've enjoyed reading Cloud 9 much more than Mantissa. I feel like Mantissa was a book written for people who have a knowledge of theory, which is enormously pretentious and sort of obnoxious to read. I like Cloud 9, because the theories presented are clearly identifable and problematic, and interesting and discussable, but I think my 16 year old sister could pick up the book and we could talk about it. Whereas Mantissa might make her innocent eyes bleed.


And the blog was ok, too. I still am suspicious of the medium, because its DISCURSIVE!!! but I didn't hate keeping it, although it was much easier to have it in by 10 pm than 5 pm. I don't think I'm a blogger, still, and I do believe that it takes a significant level of self-interest to publish one (sometimes I read ones that make me grab my hair and scream WHO CARES WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC or something along those lines), but I also recognize the fact that I read them, so, basically, I must care about what he thinks about asian woman drivers applying lipstick at green lights.

I also love Dooce.com. If there was one, totally one-hundred percent positve thing I got from this class, it was Dooce.com. Heather Armstrong never disappoints. Check it out if you haven't yet.

I've also been trying to think of a practical role all this stuff can take in my life. I think it probably might not directly have one, though. I'm not going to make theory my career, but postcolonialism and probably feminism will directly contribute to my career, but theory didn't TEACH me stuff, it made me REALIZE stuff. It's not career training, unless I want to be the next Derrida (which I don't), but I think it helps tear down some perspective-limiting walls.

For me, learning theory has been like waxing my eyebrows. Sticky and kind of dreadful and uncomfortable and irritating, but something that needs to be done, and left me satisfied with the end results. I'm prettier and more refined now that I've finished this class.